This Wombat Will Make Your Day Better

Meet Pete, the southern hairy-nosed wombat. Although most people have heard of them, wombats receive relatively little attention from the media. This is surprising — they are absolutely adorable. Although they look like a cross between a beaver and a rabbit, they are actually marsupials — a class of mammals including kangaroos and koalas, that are known to usually carry their young in a pouch.

Wombats, like many marsupials, are native to Australia, and are made up of three species. Pete is a southern hairy-nosed wombat, the smallest of these three species. As you can see they are adapted to a life of burrowing, with wide, flattened claws and rodent-like front teeth that they use to dig extensive tunnel systems. These burrows can have up to 10 residents, and have many entrances and exits — wombats really are little architects!

If you don’t already love wombats, this video will change everything. Pete the wombat has been treated at a sanctuary, and in this video we see him receive a dose of medicine. First, he needs to be warmed up, and the handler does this with his “favorite” snack: sweetcorn. Before he takes a bite however, we can hear a suspect farting sound which the handler quickly denies blame for. Classic case of ‘blame it on the wombat’?

After this, Pete tucks into the sweetcorn in short bursts that are hilarious but adorable. If you look closely, you can see where he has cut and scratched his handler with his claws. The short clip finishes off with an administration of his banana flavored medicine. Wombats are awesome.